The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-09
SPOOKS AT PLAY.
The st. Louis Custom House Haunted
by Unearthly Visitors.

strange SlgntS nave Deeu seen dU various
ZINES and that strange noises were fire.
nnentlv heard during the still hours Of
,ioht No one around the building is SUI
,orstitious enough to believe in ghosts, and
tor this reason each one who saw or heard
ANYTHING out of the usual order, accounted
Cor II as being only a freak of his own
,yaagination, and consequently said nothing
aboTt the occurrence. If any one had
Jonhts or superstitious breads they We're
TENT to themselves, until few days ago one
Of the ianitors refused to go upin the freight
elevator during the night, because, as he ex-
dressed it, 1.-THE doumed thing was full of
SpOoks. s.,-,-
onniOn which had already been formed by
several others that they commenced COM
caring notes, and the fact was developed
That enough strange occurrences had taken
nIace in the building to justify the belief
That some mysterious influence had been at
work. 1t seems that since the sad suicide a
few months ago, in which the unfortunate
victim cast himself headlong from the third
story through the open elevator shaft all
emnloyes around the building have had an
undisGuised aversion to going about the ele-
yator No amount of labor has been able
m remove the blood-stains from the floor of
the elevator, and careful scrubbing only
makes them show up palmer than before. This
fact alone is enough to arouse a feeling of
sIperstitious awe among those whose duties
caused them to go up or down on the eleva-
tor alone during the night.
THE ELEVATORS MOVING.
But this was not ALL For several weeks
mast the elevator has been acting in a
q strange mysterious manner. Several times
II has started of its own accord and moved
slowly up or down, as if guided by some I'M
seen hand. The engineers around the build
ing attributed this to some defects in the
machinery, and it has been worked on sew
eral times but without avail, it continues to
move and culver at times in spite of all their
work.
The peculiar action of the elevator was
only a forerunner to more startling mani
festations which were soon to occur. Afew
nights ago Mr. Barney McSorley, who has
long been a Waterman around the building,
was walking about on the third floor. 1t
was nearly midnight, the hall was dimly
lighted and solemn stiffness reigned over
the whole building Suddenly strange
noise drew the Waterman toward the door
of the fated elevator He looked through
the open wire work and saw that all was
dark and quiet within the shaft. The eleva-
tor was not in use and had been run down
to the basement floor just as it had on the
night when the suicide occurred. The
waterman
taken about the noise, and was about to turn
and goaway when the strange sound startled
him again, and this time it seemed SO
close and so unearthly wild that there could
be no further doubt about the noise. Bar
ney is no coward, but he says that on this
occasion he was badly scared. The sound
evidently came from the elevator shaft, and
half opening the door he cautiously put his
head inside and quickly glanced around
Tha irrh4 hot or NiaJ yNSyaS tn
unnerve the bravest man, and Barney
said he felt each hair rise and stand on end
BIG BLACK CAT.
Just opposite the doorway he beheld a
pair of garing eyeballs moving about in
the darkness and Just as he was about to
close the door with slam a huge black cat
jumped toward him and fell back into the
hatchway The Waterman could hear the
dun, heavy thud, and then came a hollow,
dismal grOan, as if made by some creature
in mortal agony. Barney rushed away from
the elevator and down flight after flight of
stairs until the basement floor was reached.
He fastened to the elevator, expecting to
find the dead body of the great black cat
which he had seen, but, strange to say, he
saw nothing there, not even a mark to
show that anything had fallen from the
great height above. The shaft was quiet
aud deserted, and only the CHASTITY blood
than usual clearness under the dim light of
the watchman's lamp. Barney was too bad
ly frightened to recover for some minutes,
but not being a believer in ghosts he finally
reasoned himself into thinking that he must
have been mistaken, and kept his secret to
himself until others began talking about
what they had heard and seen. One or two
nights after this occurrence had taken
place. Bill Curtis, one of the assistant engi-
in ba haSa of ho hIti
the elevator about midnight for some pur-
pose.
THROWING OLD SHOES.
1t was idle, as IS always the case at this
hour of the night, and when Curtis looked
inside there was nothing to be seen but the
dark, empty shaft, extending away up to
the third floor As he stood looking up,
something came falling down the shaft,
striking at his feet. He picked it up and
saw that it was an old shoe, which exactly
matched the one shoe which the suicide had
on when his body was discovered at the foot
OF the shaft Curtis is not a believer in
ghosts himself, but he was at loss to ac-
count for the falling shoe. He showed it to
several persons around the engine rooms,
and put it away for safe keeping, but on
looking for it again it had disappeared.
The engineers have been annoyed greatly
during the period of these strange vista
VOllS ny unnatural CredklllS dDOuJ Une Iud-
chinery, and weird, unearthly sounds at in
tervals during the night. The skepticai
ones attribute all this to defects in machin-
cry, to air escaping from the elevator
pipes, and to various other similar causes,
but most of the night employees are of the
opinion that some unnatural power has been
az work. One or two persons even claim
mat they have seen shadowy forms fitting
round through the mly-lighted hallway
OF the third story, where agonizing groans
are often heard
IL was just at the foot of the flight of
stars leading from the hallway of the third
sUory TO the dome that painter fell from
scaholding and was killed some three years
ago 1t is around this spot that spirit forms
seem TO linger most, and it was only one
night last week that they and their handi-
work were seen. A gentleman, whose We
idcity Is beyond question, had occasion togo
up INTO the signal station in the dome at
.ate hour of the night In going up he no
uce1 That the hall was dark and entirely de
serted. heavy wooden scaffold, which had
oeeh used during the day by some workmen
ec.tsa9ed in repainting the stairway railing,
shOood near the foot of the stairs. All this
~. Nv notlced as he was going up; and on re-
turning In few moments he found that the
SSdmnold had been placed directly across the
rall so rs to bar his progress, and there was
no human being in sight who could have
moved IT, He glanced, half-trightened,
"ollllu him, and felt a Deculiar sense OF hor-